BULBS FOR WINTER FLOWERING 187 



On bringing your bulbs to the light, do not put 

 them in a very warm room. A temperature of sixty 

 degrees is much better for them than a higher one. 

 In a low temperature, such as characterizes spring, the 

 growth will be a healthy one, while a high one will 

 force them too rapidly, and the development will be 

 correspondingly weak. In a very warm room, many 

 buds will blast. When in bloom the cooler you keep 

 the plants, the longer their flowers will last. 



Hyacinths often show buds shortly after the top 

 starts. The flower spike will appear away down 

 among the green leaves, and there it will seem deter- 

 mined to stay. If any flowers open while the buds are 

 in this bunched-up condition they will not show to any 

 advantage, and you will be greatly disappointed in 

 your plant. As soon as you notice the tendency of a 

 stalk to not develop properly, make a cone of thick 

 brown paper, the size of the pot. Cut off about an 

 inch and a half of the apex of it, and put it over the 

 pot. The flower stalk will reach up toward the light, 

 and in this way you can often succeed in coaxing it 

 out of its sulkiness. This must be done as soon as 

 you discover that the stalk is at a standstill. If you 

 wait until the buds begin to open the use of the 

 paper cover will be of no benefit. 



Lilies 



One of the favorite flowers for forcing is the 

 Bermuda Lily, generally known as Easter Lily, and 

 cataloged as Lilium Harrisii (Fig 45). Nothing can 

 be finer than a large specimen of this superb plant, 

 crowned with its great cluster of trumpet-shaped 

 flowers of the purest white, of waxen texture, and 

 most delightful fragrance. Such a plant is something 

 to be proud of. As an ornament for the parlor it is 

 exquisite, and for church use nothing equals it. A 



